Julian Alexander Trent DuPont
: "There are necessary actions which need to be taken in situations as dire as this. Hideous, unpleasant actions, they make me look the antagonist. So be it." '' -Julian Julian is the Military Pillar of Pontis who's been the subject of negative political termoil during recent years. His more recent string of poor descisions and unusual actions has caused him to lose a lot of the popularity he held during the time he bore the title of Domestic Pillar. There are many speculations surrounding the motives behind his questionable acts, but no one knows for certain why he seems to be so effectively trying to run the republic into the ground. His last name strongly suggests that his family line is one of the few still in existence to have originated in Pontis before the city seceded as its own independant republic. It's also worth noting that while Mana and Natalja have removed the third pillar of their necklace's pendant in respects to the death of the Navigational Pillar Aurther Fabel, the third pillar of Julian's pendant remains in tact. Personal History ''(Warning: This section contains plot spoilers) Julian was born of wealthy, politically influential parents in the Merchant's Republic of Pontis, outside the Citadel. His parents were of the mindset that children ought to behave as miniature adults, and grew up being raised as such. His father was a very poignant, powerful man, who parented Julian firmly in hopes that his son would follow his example. More often than not, hist father came off as being unnessicarily cold, distant, and impossible to please. Because of this, Julian grew up his entire life, struggling to fit into his name and appease his father's enormous expectations. At a very young age, the child was given a great deal of responsibility, and was raised to comply politely. As a young child, Julian was quiet, reserved, and extremely well behaved for a boy of his age. His unusually mature outwardly demeanor either had guests endearing him, or feeling greatly unnerved by him. The boy quickly learned the true value of efficiency. If there were faster, more efficient ways in getting things done, he'd figure it out--even if that meant employing the services of others around him. In fact, he seemed to greatly prefer working with others and employing the skillsets of more skilled than himself. He enjoyed the challenge of working with others to meet a goal or complete a task set for himself. He learned how to quickly win people over, and utilize their talents--in order to make up for the fact that he had no real talents of his own. As an adolescence, Julian developed a mischivious, scampish nature more true to his age. In the company of elders, mentors, and especially in the company of his parents, Jules displayed the delightlfully mature, demure, scholarly, socialite personality expected of him. Away from scrupulous eyes, particularily in the company of his childhood friend, Aurther Fabel, Julian allowed himself to show his more playful, boyish colors--which happened to be extraodinarily typical. Like most young men his age, Jules was a mediocre student in acadamia who enjoyed unrefined humor, seeked small thrills via mild risks, and fancied fickle pursuits after pretty girls. This marked the start of the confusing double face he would further develop, refine, and maintain for the rest of his life. By the time Julian turned sixteen, Theodore Thomas Orlin had become very aware that Julian did in fact have a very prominent talent--which lay in his uncanny ability to befriend and manipulate people to meet his needs. The Pillar himself recognized this as a rare, and invaluable trait--especially when dealing in public affairs and politics. Much to DuPont Sr.'s pleasure, Orlin was quick to scoop Julian up under his wing and started training the young boy to be his successor. Julian himself would much later be quoted saying, "I had never much fancied politics--my interests had always been set in medical sciences!" It's assumed Julian would have pursued his true interests if it hadn't been for pressure from his father. During his time studying under the Orlin's instruction, Julian was required to learn a great deal about psychology, and sociology, among other topics along the vein of social sciences. He was trained to become extremely versed with words and speech, and greatly refined his ability to converse and maintain civil during arguments. His glasses weren't acquired until the age of twenty-one, when Orlin grew annoyed at the fact that Julian couldn't seem to properly read what was being written on the board in front of him. After five years of teaching the young Pillar-to-be, and struggling with his seeming inability to read, the Pillar finally figured that maybe his ability to read wasn't the problem, and that his sight was. A vision test quickly revealed that Julian was extremely myopic. After his twenty-eighth birthday, Julian was finally bestowed with the official title of Domestic Pillar--a role which he was more than prepared to receive, and carried out admirably. During his time as the Domestic Pillar, he garnered a great deal of respect and popularity from the republic's people. He was veiwed not only by the people, but aslo by his peers, as an amicable, approachable, level headed man. He made fast friends with most key members of the Citadel, and continued to nurture his particularily brotherly relationship with Fabel. At the age of thirty-one, Julian witnessed Mana Wisehart's rise to the title of Military Pillar. It was her strong willed, immovable attitude, and fierce compassion for her duties which initially caught the eye of Julian. He went out of his way to make fast friends with her, and soon after, the two of them worked very closely together. His appreciation for her honesty and independance quickly transformed his friendship into something of a romance which she reciprocated, and together they became a notorious duo. Their relationship flourished and six years later, a marraige contract was signed between the two of them. starts here Around the same time his relationship with Mana was being established, the destruction of the Citadel's fourth tower, and the resulting death of Fabel and the navigational crew left Julian in an uncomfortable position. The Compass Room had survived the blast but the documentation on how to run the Compass Room's equiptment had all but turned to ash. The prediciment left Julian as the only person in the Citadel with a very rudementary understanding of how to work the equiptment. He knew, however, that the days of an operating Compass Room were numbered. While he could work the controls, he knew he would not be able to work repairs should anything happen to go wrong. Knowing the days of a working Compass Room were numbered, Julian devised a plan of action in event of a worse case scenario. The day he walked into a completely non-functioning Compass Room, ten years after the blast, was the day he was forced to put into action that cover-up plan. He prolonged initiation of his planned course of action for several months until he felt he had absolutely no other choice. His first measure of action was a drastic one involving himself assuming control of the military without Mana's consent. In the course of only a day, he switched himself over to the role of Military pillar--by accusing Mana for negligence towards her duty as military pillar, which he argued was the cause of the fourth tower's destruction. Taken completely off guard, Mana's arguments had no chance in rivaling Julian's. It was an easy assimilation of position for him, at the complete expense of his relationship with his wife. He soon removed all access from the Compass Room--which was crucial for the navigation of Pontis itself. Soon, bold and loud accusations towards him concluded that the man was on a power trip. Upon taking control of the military, Julian was quick to make the Admiral, Gabriel James Legard, his confidant. To Gabriel, Julian explained roughly the situation of the Compass Room, and his reasoning for taking control of the military. According to what he told Legard, Julian was absolutely convinced that if word of the Compass Room's current unworking state were to leak into public ears, there would be panic on the streets. The Compass Room was key to maintaining the city's infastructure, and without it, nothing the existing Pillars could do would help keep the republic functional. Julian concluded that it would be best to induce a political power struggle, rather than reveal that there was no power to struggle over. Because of this, Julian greatly welcomed and encouraged rumors of his so called 'power trip', and played it up accordingly. He vowed that if a fix had not been found after a year had passed, that he would expose the true situation to his peers. While public and internal attention was focused on the strife he had set up, it offered Julian more time to try and diagnose the problems of the Compass Room. However, as the first year passed, it bacame apparent to Julian that there was simply too much he did not know about the room's equiptment and set up--and would need much more than just a single year to discover what went wrong and how to fix it. Perhaps pridefully, he chose to prolong his act in a gamble that he would be able to find a fix without having to admit there was ever anything wrong. The public's hostilities towards him, as well as hostilities from the two remaining Pillars plays a constant reminder that Julian cannot keep up his charade forever. Mana's strong, growing resentment towards him in particular has him feeling slight worry for his own life. With his previous romantic feelings for the Domestic Pillar still in tact, nothing pains Julian more about his chosen course of action than the resulting loathing towards him from Mana. end As a Military Pillar, he rarely engages in any of the physical aspects of the job himself, recruiting the abilities of the more skilled men under him when it comes to such things. Julian is more often seen planning, disussing, and calling orders from the sanctity of his office. Despite rarely ever being seen in combat or combat training, Julian has decent skills with a sword, though his technique is more one for show than for proper combat. At the age of fourty-four, he still remarks quietly about how he's not yet the man he was expected to be, and expresses passive regret towards the numorous shortcomings he has identified within himself. When Mana drags the soothsayer, Wesley Fisher into the equation, his already high stress situation reaches a new level upon realizing that this soothsayer could very well expose everything he'd been trying to keep under wraps. Personality Julian is a man who strongly disbelieves in the saying, "if you want anything done right, do it yourself". He's a very social person by nature, and needs to be with people, working with people in order to be happy. He feeds off the positive energy of an enthusiastic crowd, and has loved celebratory social events for this reason. Without adequate social interaction, Julian is prone to mild bouts of depression. He also has a tendancy to over estimating his own abilities, while feeling great stress towards his short comings. In light of current events, his high stress levels have plagued him with relentless isomnia. There are recent rumors stating that the man has been taking a number of medical perscriptions just to help him sleep at night. Appearance Julian stands at 5'10", being about the average hieght for a man his age. He has fine, thin, sandy colored hair which is starting to desaturate from early signs of graying. Short cut, and nicely groomed, his hair still tends to have a slight, subtle waviness towards the back. His eyes are a light brown to the point of looking almost amber in hue, often behind small, round framed glasses. His facial shape is sharply angled, but some what dainty, with a prominent, sharp jaw. He has thin lips, thin eyebrows, and a narrow, upturned nose. Mild wrinkling on his face gives away his age, and has become increasingly prominant over the past two years due to stress. His body type, while having modest muscle definition, is quite delicate. Well aware of this, Julian is partial to wearing thick drapery such as a variety of capes and shawls to help fill out his silhouette. In the soothsayer's smoke, he appears as a fox. Relationships Julian has established a close relation with most people in the Citadel. However, his current situation has made him much less popular. Gabriel: His confidant, the only person he trusts with the crutial information he'd never entrust to anyone else. Julian's relationship with Gabriel often breaks the boundries of being merely professional, as Gabriel tends to address Julian more casually as a concerned friend and peer than formally as an Admiral working under a Pillar. Julian seems to encourage the more friendly relationship, arguabley because Gabriel may very well be the only trustworthy, loyal friend Julian has at this point in time. Mana: Having been in a rather close relationship with her for a number of years, hers was the relationship most compromised when Julian started carrying out his questionable actions. As soon as Julian made claim over her position as Military Pillar, her feelings towards him became acidic. She rarely misses an opprotunity to lay down emotional abuse on him, assuming he doesn't care anyways. Despite offering exactly that outwardly impression, Mana's great disdain towards him is his biggest cause of emotional termoil. He only prays that she continues to maintain her cool around him as to not inflict physical violence upon him. If an argument were to turn physical, Julian knows he'd stand no chance against the woman. Wesley: Julian dispises and fears the soothsayer for his potential to blow his cover and expose the truth about the city's situation. Julian is effectively able to predict or manipulate the reactions of almost everyone in the Citadel, but Wesley is a complete wild card. Without even knowing the soothsayer's personality, motives, or concerns, Julian wishes every day that the man would just dissappear from existance. Avery: The two share a strained, and strictly professional relationship. Avery's loyalties still reside with Mana, and while Avery reports to Julian, Julian's aware that this is only out of a sense of duty. Julian's very careful as to not disclose any information to Avery he'd not want reaching Mana. Natalja: Natalja's perhaps the only person who still has hopes that Julian will wake up and realize that what he's doing is wrong. Julian himself works effectively to erode that hope with every conversation he holds with her. Gallery julianlarge.png|Painting by ashcap on Deviantart. julesoutfits2.jpg|Julian wears a variety of elaborate outfits. 2011_0117_pontis.jpg|Painted by ExiledDelusion on Deviantart Julian.jpg The Fox and The World by Pancakefries.png|painting by pencakes on Deviantart formana.jpg|Painting by exileddelusion on Deviantart. FACADE_by_whitetrashpalace.png|Painting by WhiteTrashPalace on Deviantart. 4382873749_4c962dc672_o.jpg|Sketch by ninanai on Deviantart PE__Julian_Again_by_ninjafaun.jpg|Sketch by ninjafaun on Deviantart. The_Martyr_by_Manamaraya.jpg 033.jpg|Drawn by Lone-Momo on Deviantart, colored by Manamaraya. Category:Characters Category:Pillars